You wouldn’t believe it, the singer remarks. At that moment preparing for her new album launch in eight years, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and finally the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for a decade, on top of the world. Then in spring she was diagnosed with cancer in her breast.
The artist, actual name Jessica Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an transparent story, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last made an album (endometriosis, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, psychological manipulation, suicide) with typical candour. The first single, her single No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Then follow-up track, her song Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and she was talking to press about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while dealing with breast cancer. Four weeks after she went public, and in early July she received surgical treatment.
She gives me her best “Seriously?” look. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every press talk, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.
We meet at a photo studio in the capital. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and large glasses. Picture motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, referencing the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. Cornish is sharp-witted, unfiltered and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance soon. “I enjoy humor. On stage I often tease the audience.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
She was preparing for an performance at the Baftas when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the Monday. By then the singer had assured herself it was okay. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had a busy schedule.
“It was a fortnight prior from debuting the project after a long hiatus and no new music. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your reports have indicated malignant cells.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘Well, that’s not great. The timing is terrible.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She found the surgery terrifying and absurd. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but now I just walked with a gown on and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but however Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy recently and my one side now resembles a odd shape.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her chest, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I thought, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! Ironically I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Previous Struggles
The singer is familiar with health problems. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so positive because she’s used to medical emergencies. Frequently they align with professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”
She reminisces to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut performing in the West End in a musical (she was selected at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the medical problem WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and young Jessica has joined the girl group the group while enrolled in the performing arts school. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”
Hey, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
